Mississippi Success Story

By Carey M. Wright, Ed.D., State Superintendent of EducationUpdated October 30, 2018

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Mississippi students can’t achieve great things. With the help of district and school leaders and dedicated teachers, students are rewriting the story about public education in the state.

We’ve all heard the negative narrative that comes from those who want to paint a bleak picture of public education, but it’s time to change that story – based on facts, not empty rhetoric. The narrative of “failing” Mississippi schools has been told for so long that many people don’t know that Mississippi students and schools are actually succeeding.

Our success is attracting national attention. The 2018 Education Week Quality Countsreport recognized Mississippi as one of the five most improved states in the nation.

While Mississippi has more improvement to make, it is clear that the state’s steady achievements in education demonstrate that substantial progress has been made. The public education community is changing the narrative of what Mississippi students can accomplish with the right supports, higher expectations and bold initiatives.

78 percent of pre-K students in Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaboratives (ELC) met the end-of-year kindergarten readiness score, up from 71 percent in 2016 and 59 percent in 2015

ELC students achieved the highest average score in spring 2018 on the statewide test administered in public pre-K classes to assess whether they are on track to be ready for kindergarten

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recognized Mississippi’s ELCs in its 2015, 2016 and 2017 State of Preschool report as one of only five states in the nation that meet most of NIEER’s original quality standards for early childhood education

Literacy

Literacy skills among students in pre-K through the 3rd grade have steadily improved:

65 percent of kindergarteners met the end-of-year target score in 2018, up from 54 percent in 2015

93.2 percent of 3rd graders passed the 3rd Grade Reading Assessment on their first attempt, up from 85 percent in 2015

3rd grade reading pass rate increased for all subgroups, including a 17-percentage point increase for students with disabilities from 2016 to 2017

Student Proficiency

English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics proficiency rates increased annually between 2015 and 2018, rising from 32 to 40 percent in ELA and from 27 to 44 percent in Mathematics

Number of districts that had greater than 45 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced in Mathematics more thantripled from 2016 (15 districts) to 2018 (52 districts)

Number of districts that had greater than 45 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced in ELA nearly tripled from 2016 (14 districts) to 2018 (40 districts)